Day 11 ~ John 11

SCRIPTURE ~ John 11
KEY VERSE ~ John 11:25 - I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

OBSERVATION ~ I love the way John wrote verse 5-6, "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days." On the surface, if Jesus loved them as He said, He should have dropped everything, but He understood the plan He had to really demonstrate He is the Son of the Father.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany, the people were grieving and mourning the death of Lazarus. If only He had been there He could have healed Lazarus. People had seen Jesus do this many times. But this is different, Lazarus is dead. There is no reviving the dead.

There are those moments in our lives, where we wonder and think, 'if only . . . Jesus had been here for us (fill in the blank) this would not have happened. Yet, we need to remember through the blessing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is always with us, He will not fail, forsake, abandon, bail out, or leave us. He is always present with us. For some that is a blessing and a curse. That is how Job thought about it when he said, "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, 18 that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?" Job 7:17-18

In Psalm 8:4, we hear the positive side of it in a question as well,
"When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor."

Ultimately we come to the key verse, when Jesus tells Martha He is the hope of the world, stating "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

This is the same question asked to us on a daily basis. How do we/I answer.

APPLICATION ~Intellectually we can say, "yes, I believe." But when we live out our lives, our heart and soul may do what is opposite of what we say we believe. Believing Jesus is the resurrection and the life should give us amazing hope to move forward in the midst of a chaos filled world, but does it. Do we really believe it, or simply / sadly give Jesus lip service. Is that how I live my life. I hear Jesus calling me to step up my trust in who He claims to be. Only by trusting Him totally, completely, 100%, can I then be the person He wants me to be. Without trusting Him, I will always fall short somewhere along the way. My accomplishments may look good on paper, but Jesus knows what could have been; and deep in my heart and soul, so do I.

PRAYER ~ Lord, take my heart, soul, mind and body so they may be open to You. That I may trust Your plan, purpose and grab the opportunities You place before me. Even when I am in the tomb for 4 days and stink, help me to know that no situation is unmanageable with You. Be my Lord! Be my Savior! Be my Leader! Be my Shepherd! and create / stir in my heart a longing to be in Your presence, to experience You, second by glorious second. Amen